


Encounters

by karakael



Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-19
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 22:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/766683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karakael/pseuds/karakael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After all Iceberg did to protect his family from Nico Robin's influence, it seems unfair that she stole away what was most precious to him...without even realizing she did it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Encounters

"Iceberg-san?"

The blue-haired man looks up from his paperwork, finding his young secretary holding a small package, looking confused.

"What is it?"

"This just came in the mail. But the note doesn't make any sense."

He holds out his hand, and receives the box and note.

He recognizes it at once. Nestled with in the box, carefully wrapped in tissue paper, is tattered coin purse. He knows without even opening it how much will be inside - fifteen beli and twenty three cents, with an extra beli for interest.

The note just reads "You were right." Its signed with a glyph, completely illegible to the shipwright, but he he knows the meaning. _Nico Robin_

His secretary takes one look at his face - full of a wash of emotions; sorrow, amusement, loneliness; and rushes to his side.

"Iceberg-san, what's wrong?"

_________________________________

"I just need a place to stay for one night! Please, Mister, I'll do anything!" 

Iceberg blinks. Its one thing to find a clearly starving little girl back on Water Seven, where the streets are lined with kids just like this one. But here? In this rather nice hotel-room, on an island famed for its care-free attitude and benevolent rulers, its strange to see a girl so clearly ready to give up anything for shelter.

He grimaces. Tom didn't need another mouth to feed, especially here, on St. Poplar, where everything was a bit _too_ nice for their budget. But he couldn't let a kid go hungry...or try to sell her self to someone less understanding.

"Wait here. There's someone I need you to meet first." Halfway out the door and he turns back with reassurances."You'll like him."

He didn't catch the resigned look on the girl's face as he closed the door, nor the way her shoulders sunk at the certain knowledge that she was about to be betrayed yet again. But she only allowed herself a moment to sigh, and then practicality took over. Might as well make the best of it. The wallet was on the night stand. The window was tiny, but reaching on thrice-grown tip-toes was just enough to flick the latch and then clamber through. Luckily there was a ledge on the other side...

" - what do you mean, a girl? Is she cute?"

"Very cute. Now - "

"How old is she? What's her name? Got a date for me~"

"No! She looks about ten - "

"Ten?! What do you think I am, a pedophile? Baka-berg!"

Robin closed her eyes, clutching the wallet to her chest, as the man and his friend entered the room. While they wouldn't think to look for her outside, the ledge was three stories up and exposed. Cautiously she started to edge her way towards the drain-pipe, listening with half an ear to the man and his companion, waiting for the inevitable clatter of marine boots.

"That's not it at all! Damnit, Baka-aniki, you've scared her off!"

"Me?! You probably scared her off with that frown of yours. What kid wouldn't be terrified?"

"No, you scared her with your talk of pedophilia. If you weren't a useless pervert - "

"Hey! Say that to my face you - "

There was a clatter, and Robin froze, hands tight around the drain-pipe. Had someone seen her? Had a rock fallen?

But no, it was just the two in the hotel room. She heard the second punch connect. The clatter must have been the night-stand falling over when the second man attacked the first. At least the mess they were making would hide her theft a bit longer. With any luck she would be off the building and one town over before they noticed...

"Wait! The my wallet's gone!"

Or not.

Hurriedly she grasped the pipe and started her climb to the roof. Just one more floor, helped by her extra arms, and she could then jump to the next building.

"Hah! Serves you right, baka-berg! What else did you think a hungry kid would do?"

Hearing this, Robin pauses. That was not the reaction she had expected. 

"No point in looking for it, Iceberg. You know its gone. Kid p-u-n-k-e-d you."

Normal people did not have that reaction upon loosing a wallet. They yelled, and looked for the closest person to blame it on, and then attacked them, no matter the evidence to to the contrary. But these two men...the second was _laughing_ now, teasing the first about his naivety and ignoring the now frantic search through the room. 

"See, you got what you wanted. She'll get a meal, and you don't have to worry about bothering Tom."

At that, she almost stopped and returned to the room. To give the wallet back, to say sorry and tell them to keep being kind, to ask who this big-hearted pervert was; she wasn't sure what. But then a shout came from below, a pointing finger to the girl on the wall, and she was gone, putting the thought of the two men out of her head. They were nice just because they didn't know who she was. There was no point in expecting anything more.

As a result, she didn't hear the rest of the conversation.

"I asked you to help because I thought you might _care_ , Cutty Flam. But apparently you can't think about anyone but yourself."

"Hey! I'm just saying the truth." Franky thumped back down on the bed, mussing the covers and enjoying the unusual luxury.

"No. If it wasn't for you, we might have found her home, or her parents. But now she's alone on the streets with barely enough to buy a meal, and its _your_ fault."

The younger man shrugged, but his trade-mark smile had faded. Iceberg didn't notice, throwing up his hands at the disarray the room had been left in and letting his anger out on his companion.

"Tom would have expected us to do more, Franky. You were abandoned, so you should know how she feels. But instead you just laughed at her plight. That's selfish. Just like you."

The teenager humpfed and turned over on his side, away from Iceberg, hiding his expression. Without his trademarked 'I'm not crying!' Iceberg didn't notice the tears. Instead he continued berating the younger man. "Tom took you in, but you can't do a single thing to help others. If it wasn't for you - "

"I thought you said Tom didn't need another mouth to feed." The response was quiet, an indication of just how hard Iceberg's words were hitting.

"Well, maybe he should be feeding hungry little girls instead of useless people like you!"

\---------------------------- 

"Alright boys, what started the fight this time?"

The two looked away from each other. 

"Nothing, Tom-san." Iceberg explained. Luckily the room hadn't been trashed too bad. And apparently the hotel managers were used to enough pirates that a few rowdy shipwrights were nothing unusual.

"Really."

"Yes, Tom-san."

"What do you have to say, Franky?" The puffer-fishman turned to his youngest shipbuilder, to find the boy looking down, hands clasped in his lap, head uncharacteristically bowed.

"Iceberg's right, Tom. I just...Icebergs right. It was nothing."

Warning bells went off in Tom's brain as he looked at his students. Iceberg with gripped teeth and angry eyes, Franky with bruises that he would never normally let Iceberg give and bags under his eyes as if he had been hiding tears rather than embracing them.

Tom sighed. Sometimes dealing with teenage human boys was a pain. It was so much easier when you could just throw them into the ocean twenty miles away from eachother and tell them to swim it off. Iceberg would eventually tell him what had happened. There was no hope of Franky doing the same; the boy was loose-lipped about everything but the things that hurt him. Until then, they had materials to load and a train to build. Even if he couldn't dunk them back to their senses, at the very least he could work them until all that juvenile rage was cooled. Loading four cords of wood should be enough.

And maybe later he'd take Iceberg aside, and remind him that Franky really was grateful for what they had done for him. He just didn't show it well. And that taking Iceberg's own anger out on others wasn't living with a _don_. Because the signs were there; Iceberg was just as angry with himself as he was Franky.

\-------------------------- 

"Boys, I'd like to tell you about this girl."

The solution had seemed simple when Tom had heard about the little girl who ran away. Iceberg needed to learn that charity wasn't always a good thing...and that he couldn't be blamed if someone didn't take him up on his kindness. A demon-child should do that quite nicely.

And Franky could stand to learn something about kindness, and when it was appropriate to tease people about it.

\------------------------- 

"This girl is the most dangerous person on the planet."

Iceberg stared. He'd _seen_ her. The little girl in the picture; she might be a bit older, a bit thinner, and a whole lot more frightened, but that was the little girl he'd almost helped. 

A demon. The one person who could turn all their work against them, and revive a weapon strong enough to destroy the world.

And he'd almost _helped_ her.

He set his jaw. Apparently, even innocence could be deceiving. The girl had stolen his wallet, ruined his relationship with Franky, and put a sour mood on the whole trip.

But what was worse was the thought of what might have happened had he succeeded in convincing her of Tom's good will. They might have never guessed her identity, and she could have kept up that innocent act, pretending to be broken and alone, and gotten access to the one thing that must be protected from her at all costs. Tom and Franky...they couldn't be expected to understand how important it was to protect their knowledge from people like her. You didn't build a ship that could destroy, and you didn't give a demon a weapon.

Thank the sea-gods that she'd been selfish enough to go for the wallet. He didn't mind the thought that it had been his fault anymore - it was a good thing she was gone. While once he had hated himself for the thought of her hungry and alone, and taken it out on Franky in the process, now he was glad the girl had run. Because he wasn't sure if Tom would have turned her away. And maybe Franky terrifying everyone with his weapons and speedo wasn't so bad, if it kept people like her away.

"A kid like that...she's a demon?"

Iceberg looked up, to see Franky's expression locked on the picture.

Tom nodded. "She has the ability to revive Pluton. Without Ohara, the blueprints could never be used..."

"But...that's not _her_ fault! She's just a kid!"

"Even a child can be evil." Iceberg replied grimly. "Didn't you read? She destroyed an entire island."

"Yeah, but..."

"Hundreds of innocent people died. All because of one little girl."

"But..."

"People like that shouldn't exist!"

"Iceberg!" The teenager turned at Tom's sudden harsh tone. But the fishman's harsh face softened, and he kindly patted Iceberg on the back. "Give me and Franky a moment together, will you?"

He nodded, and walked away. What was wrong with them? Couldn't they see? Or maybe there was something wrong with him. Ever since that brush with doom, it felt as if he was walking on a tightrope holding his family from the chasm below. He'd do anything to protect them...and that wasn't wrong, was it?

\------------------------- 

"You're thinking of that little girl Iceberg said you scared away." Tom said.

Franky nodded. "She was scared and alone and it might have been my fault she ran away."

"And?"

"And I thought...well, what if she was Nico Robin? If everyone hated you, and thought you were a demon...maybe you'd want to blow up a few warships too."

"That doesn't make it right."

"Yeah but..." Franky hunched over further, playing with water-rings on their shabby dinner table. "But maybe...maybe I understand a bit. What its like, hating people so much you want to destroy them."

Tom sighed and looked to the ceiling. Cracked plaster, water-stains and rust. All things he could easily fix with a new coat of paint and half a days work. Healing his youngest shipwright was a much more difficult task. And now Iceberg had gone and added another layer of pain - the idea of someone abandoned thanks to Franky's actions. As if his own abandonment wasn't enough.

"Franky...why do you want to make weapons?"

"To destroy sea-kings so ships don't get lost at sea!" At last there was a bit of a smile on the boy's face. There hadn't been one since their return from St. Poplar, and it had been only flickering since the trial.

"That helps people, doesn't it?"

"Of course! That's why I'm doing it!"

"So then...you're not like this Nico Robin. You're helping people even if they don't need or want your help. You're helping _everyone_ , not just us. And isn't that a better use of your time than worrying about sad little girls on far away islands?"

Slowly, Franky nodded. "Maybe...maybe someday my Battle Frankys will even help her! Yeah. Like if she wanted to go to another island, where there was more food, or a family that wanted her, she could get on one of my ships and not have to worry about getting there!"

Tom smiled. "Exactly. "

Already the pen and pad of paper had appeared on the dirty table, sopping up water and cola. Franky didn't seem to notice, intent on his newest idea, scribbling down every thought that came into his head. There were a lot of corrections Tom could make...but that wasn't really the point of the Battle Frankys, was it? The boy needed something wholly _his_ , something he could do to make himself useful and valued in his own way. It was what connected him to the shipyard and Tom wished Iceberg could see that. How desperately this awkward, wonderful boy wanted to be loved and protected, and how he was so frightened of reaching out, but none-the-less did everything in his power to protect the ones he loved.

And yes, perhaps he could only build weapons now. Born on a pirate ship, what else could one expect? But maybe he'd grow out of that, and maybe he'd turn it to good, and sooner or later Iceberg would see that.

But perhaps it was time to give Iceberg a hint. At least enough of one to stop him needling his younger brother about not working hard enough or being worthy of Tom's workers. There was nothing further from the case.

"Tom?"

The fishman turned back to the young man.

"Yes, Franky?"

"Its never a sin to exist, is it?"

He thought of an abandoned child, thrown off a ship for not being useful. He thought of a boy turning to the only place that would let him create something in a sinking city. And he thought of a young fishman who was willing to leave everything behind to build for people who hated his kind.

"No, Franky, its never a sin to exist."

He turned to go speak to Iceberg, not noticing the doodle in the corner of Franky's blueprints. A little girl, with dark hair and scared eyes. Someone whose existence couldn't be a sin, if Franky's wasn't.

\----------------------------


End file.
